Rain Power: Harvesting Energy from the Sky
What a great idea! Anyway, it looks viable to me – so we’re going to have to mix our solar panels with these, as well as put them on the floors of our showers
Month: January 2008
W3C Publishes HTML 5 Draft
Wow, so it’s finally happening – a new HTML! This links to the press release This is the list of changes from 4 to 5 And this is the draft itself
Lifehacker Windows Applications
Lifehacker has some of its own productivity software on their page: Windows Applications Texter (text substitution) Save countless keystrokes by automatically replacing abbreviations with commonly used phrases you define, like email signatures and common acronyms. Swept Away (automatic window minimizer) A simple system tray utility that automatically minimizes applications that you aren’t using. ClickWhen (timed Read more about Lifehacker Windows Applications[…]
Featured Windows Download: Grab Just the Text from Documents with Text Mining Tool
This tool copies the text out of PDF and Flash documents and cleans it up so you don’t have to play around with image markers etc.
Scala Q2
This system, built for bikers, allows others to communicate with each other over a range of 500m.
Customs selling access to government databases
Yup, when big, centralised databases get made, it just gives you so much more information to sell or misuse. Here we have a corrupt customs agent sellling data to drug dealers. We also have people tracking ex-girlfriends. Yup, great, having no privacy.
Slashdot | SPARQL Graduates to W3C Recommendation
SPARQL is a way to make queries over the semantic web which is usable over many different data sources.
How To Crack WPA / WPA2
Ur wireless 902.11 networks are belong to us
Car Race Pimping
G-tech/Pro is famous for its accelerometers or g-meters. They measure how fast you accellerate, how many G’s you’re pulling, how fast you brake and how that compares to your turns. Their SS ($199) / RR ($299) series are the top of the line, but it’s a bit unfortunate that you need to spend an extra Read more about Car Race Pimping[…]
So – you want to be a superhero
And why not? Apparently there are around 200 ‘real’ superheroes in the USA, fighting crime or just helping the community, dressed in their superhero gear. You’re going to need a suit though and the best, most durable, crime fighting proof come from here. From a mask to a full battlesuit, this is the place to Read more about So – you want to be a superhero[…]
Downsize DC: refuse to be afraid
This organisation makes an interesting point: they don’t want to be afraid, and they petition you to send a letter to your government saying something like I am not afraid of terrorism, and I want you to stop being afraid on my behalf. Please start scaling back the official government war on terror. Please replace Read more about Downsize DC: refuse to be afraid[…]
Magic Fireballs Howto
Make some cotton balls from a t-shirt, make sure it holds together using some string, douse in lighter fluid and amaze your friends as you play with them in your hands whilst a foot high flame shoots from them. The video instruction is really quite impressive.
World Lecture Hall
Lectures and course materials from all over the world which have been put online are findeable through the World Lecture Hall.
Polish teen derails tram after hacking train network
This 14 year old kid walks around tram depots, figures out what signal is needed to make track points switch, builds his own TV Remote control and goes and derails 4 trams. That’s young talent for you.
Food art
Using the contents of a refrigerator you can make some damn pretty landscapes!
Visualizing: tracing an aesthetics of data
What does data look like? There are plenty of ideas that have come out of Madrid at Medialab Prado’s Visualizer workshops. Many more images and explanations of what they mean in the link!
Techdirt: ICANN Finally Realizes Domain Tasting Is A Problem, Might Fix It Sometime This Decade
Two issues in this story: Because registrars allow you to return a domain without costs within 5 days, domain kiting or tasting allows unscrupulous companies to register a domain, see how much traffic it generates and throw it back for free or re-register it every 5 days, allowing them to get free domains. Apparently the Read more about Techdirt: ICANN Finally Realizes Domain Tasting Is A Problem, Might Fix It Sometime This Decade[…]
Stereo surfaces
This is a lovely story for a great development: a honeycomb structure that seems to be transparent and conducts sound, allowing you to transmit audio over just about any surface. “The UK ministry of defense was experimenting with a way to dampen the sound in helicopters and developed a honeycombed material that did the opposite Read more about Stereo surfaces[…]
Mitsubishi Laser TV’s
These things are based on DLP technology – ie. there’s a little mirror on each chip reflecting the RGB lasers to the required pixel. The mirror tilts and turns at insane speed in order to get the exact right colour mix to the place the light is projected to. Apparently the colours on this thing Read more about Mitsubishi Laser TV’s[…]
Shimmer
This is a method to hide your application ports shimmer works by cryptographically changing a set of 16 ports (one of which forwards to the real service, and 15 others that lead to a trap to blacklist attackers). The 16 ports change every minute frustrating an attacker, but a legimitate user with access to a Read more about Shimmer[…]
Wolfking announces MVP series gamepad and mouse for gamers – Engadget
Looks like a good gaming keypad to me…
Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the WiiRemote
This guy has an amazing Wii mod which puts the sensor bar on your head and has a WiiRemote track the location of your head. Because it knows this, software can change the image on the screen relative to the position of your head, creating a very effective 3D space. The whole thing is explained Read more about Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the WiiRemote[…]
Goodbye, cruel Word
Both Steven Poole and Virginia Heffernan in the NY Times have written great pieces about how they are pissed off with the huge bloat that is MS Word and how they have gotten around it. One option is to use WriteRoom which presents you with a blank screen with text. Which is kind of… it. Read more about Goodbye, cruel Word[…]
Vista4Experts
This freeware disables all the little things you hate about Vista, making it slightly less crap: Vista4Experts is kind of a treat for computer experts who don’t want security center notifications, User Account Control dialogs, automatic Windows Defender scannings, automatic update installations (which cause you to reboot your system if you don’t react quickly enough). Read more about Vista4Experts[…]
IMO Meteor Shower Calendar 2008
The International Meteor Organization has a calendar with the meteor showers we can expect this year. It has pictures of where to look as well as data on how many to expect and on what they base these predictions.